Last week I did something I hadn’t done in quite a while…
I got into an argument about economics.
Ever since coming back from studying in Spain I’ve diverted less and less of my energy engaging in argument with people about whatever issue. I’ve been in a multi-year mode of preferring to deploy that energy elsewhere – mainly in matters related to work, study and developing better personal habits.
However, after attending an event last week I found myself speaking with two undergrads – both studying economics at prestigious Ivy League schools. The conversation turned to monetary economics – a branch I’ve been particularly interested in recently. I casually commented it should be obvious we do not presently have a free market in money and credit. Nor have we had anything remotely like it since perhaps the classical gold standard period of 1879-1914. One of the students immediately rebutted saying that the post Bretton Woods system of “free-floating currencies” we have today is much more exemplary of a free market in money and credit compared to the classical gold standard.
I disagreed of course and this sparked a lively conversation that continued all the way outside the building until reaching an impasse in front of the subway station.
I was struck by two things:
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Weak arguments won’t cut it
These students were smart. I found myself quickly on the defensive – feeling some of the mental rust that had accumulated over the years from sitting on the sidelines. Every point was contended. There was no “easy” agreement. This was no place for gimmicks, party lines or superficial observation. They knew their sh*t and if I wasn’t able to keep apace with them then the conversation would be over before it started.
Now, they had the advantage of hours and hours of coursework “fresh” in their minds. They also had methodological suppositions inherited from their professors who have a particular worldview.
However, it was evident they weren’t just “reciting” what their professors had taught them.
Why would they? They weren’t in the classroom. It’s not like I was going to hand them a grade on how well they explained the Keynesian theory of credit or call their professors later to discuss what points they missed. No, they were passionately arguing their points because they actually thought them to be True. Right. Good. They really believed.
Which leads me to the second thing that struck me….
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It’s really really really important
This should be self-evident but it hit me like a ton of bricks that night. These two students have their entire lives and careers in front of them. They’re smart, talented, well connected. By most standards they probably have a very bright future in front of them.
And…
They are up to their ears in an ideology that says it’s OK…no, not just OK, but actually GOOD to “euthanize the renter.” An expression John Maynard Keynes is famous (or infamous) for. The phrase is a bit antiquated. The modern translation might read “kill the saver.”
That is, they believe we should aggressively pursue a policy which forcibly disenfranchises, subjects, and herds an innumerable amount of real live human beings and their hard earned capital into an increasingly smaller subset of economic choices with increasingly disadvantageous risk scenarios all because [insert Keynesian ideology] – summarized as:
“market failure” > intervention > stimulate demand > increase spending > increase investment > increased “growth” > better economy > higher standard of living > rinse and repeat
Savings just doesn’t fit into the program. So we need to find ways to get rid of savings and you know, those who might be inclined to do that sort of thing i.e. savers.
In other words, we weren’t arguing about the weather. We were arguing competing worldviews about how humans should treat other humans. What’s Ok and what’s NOT Ok. What leads to flourishing and peace and what leads to destruction and desolation.
Ideas are not wispy ephemeral floating abstractions. We *live* ideas. When the Federal Reserve acts, billions of people are affected. Flesh and blood, carne y hueso. The difference between retirement or not. The difference between rent or not. The difference between that food or this food or no food.
Is that opportunity available? Or is it not?
What causes the Federal Reserve to act? An idea. What’s the reason for the Federal Reserve’s existence in the first place? An idea.
That night I again felt the gravity of the ongoing battle for ideas.
It was both deeply invigorating and deeply concerning.
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
– Frederick Buechner